Latest / The Lila Rose Show / In Memory of Charlie Kirk

Transcript

In Memory of Charlie Kirk · The Lila Rose Show

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Hi friends, I'm on the road for my sister's wedding, but I
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wanted to film the special episode of the Lila Rose Show in
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tribute of my friend Charlie Kirk.
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I've actually already tried to start filming this and
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afterwards I thought there's so much more I didn't say that I
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wanted to say. And I was looking back over all
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of my messages with Charlie and reflecting on the last decade of
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knowing Charlie. And there's some things that I
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wanted to make sure that I share it in his honor.
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We lost an incredible human being, and I can only imagine
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the devastation that his beautiful wife and children are
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experiencing right now. Let's first and foremost pray
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for them. But there is so much of
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Charlie's life that I think leaves a legacy that we can
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learn from and that we can honor.
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I first met C9 years ago at a retreat for conservative
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leaders, this private retreat, and I was giving a pro-life talk
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and he came up to me afterwards and was saying great job, I love
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what you're doing, let's collaborate.
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And that was Charlie always, he was always focused on
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collaboration. How can we do Better Together?
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What can we build? I mean, the guy was amazing with
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his Rolodex. He'd get get the number and then
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just start texting right away, figuring things out, making
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plans. He always saw opportunity
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everywhere he looked and he was always so encouraging.
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That was another aspect of Charlie.
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He he wanted encouragement from others and he gave encouragement
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generously. Great job on Doctor Phil go go
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go. Great job on Tucker.
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Just became a monthly toner. Great job on Ruben.
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Amazing. I'm donating to Live action now.
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People need to hear you more. Very encouraging.
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And Charlie became a donor to Live Action years ago and
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faithfully has been giving thousands of dollars a year to
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Live action. And not only is he doing that,
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but most importantly, he, especially in the last five
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years, became more and more publicly passionate about
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defending unborn lives and babies and defending marriage
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and being open about faith. And I've not met his beautiful
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wife Erica, but I imagine that her impact on him was huge, too.
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To unlock this in him, she was doing a Daily Show.
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He was leading an organization of 10s of millions of dollars
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and the staff of hundreds of people and a Daily Show and
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traveling the country and the world and advising an
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administration and, and a left and a campaign.
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And he was leading a family, having children and, and his
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beautiful wife. I mean, his share work ethic to
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do that and drive to do that was inspiring.
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I will say that for me, knowing that Charlie was out there
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dealing in the messy realm of politics and we had a lot of
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conversations about politics over the years and he, you know,
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would tell me like, it's an imperfect vessel.
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We have to like, work with what we've got.
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You know, our leaders aren't fully there yet on life.
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And there was a confidence, a level of confidence I had
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knowing that he's dealing with that.
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You know, I, I, I'm involved in politics too, to some degree.
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But Charlie is this Goliath. He is leading.
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He's this force of nature. And he's true blue on life and
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marriage. Like he's not going to give up
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that foundation. He is true blue.
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And so there was this sense of great confidence that I had
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knowing that that was the case. I mean, again, we had
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disagreements on certain strategic things, but knowing
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that he was out there and he's not there in on this side of
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heaven anymore. But I do have this faith that
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the that the prudence, the wisdom and and the heart that
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Charlie had in this life is even more perfected in the next.
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And I do plan to ask for his intercessions and prayers.
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I'm going to talk to a few friends of Charlie, friends of
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mine that I'm going to share what Charlie meant to them in
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his tribute. And please pray for Charlie's
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beautiful family and pray, let's pray that we can be used by God
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in whatever God's plan is for us.
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Hello great friend. You.
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How are you? Hello, I'm doing all right.
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How are you? I'm.
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OK, I left the office though and said you can't get anything done
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at all. And it's depressing.
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So. Well, there might be a crying
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baby off camera, but hopefully not.
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But pretty surreal. You know, I I can have pretty
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cold blood if sometimes and or at least compartmentalize.
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And I am really in a fog about this.
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I don't. Yeah.
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I don't know about you it. Feels unreal for sure.
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It doesn't feel real. Yeah, I'm sure you've been
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thinking about this a lot, but I'm curious.
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Your first memories of Charlie. Well.
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Or your favorite memories of Charlie?
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I have my first one comes to mind.
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The the first memory that comes to mind is I was in the LA Fox
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Bureau at 3:00 in the morning or something for the morning show
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in New York. And I lived in LA, so I was, I
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should have been adjusted to the time I did that show a lot.
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Charlie gets off an airplane from somewhere, probably hadn't
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slept in three days, and he just starts bouncing off the walls.
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You know, I mean, it just, I was thinking like, hey, nice to meet
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you in person, buddy, But you know, I'm asleep.
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And he was just all over just talking.
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And so that sort of set the stage.
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And then he was impressive then. That was many years ago.
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And he he really, I think without any exaggeration, would
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have to be considered the preeminent political talent of
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our generation, without question, and one of the most
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significant figures politically in the United States.
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I was even thinking if if God forbid, you know, the Secretary
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of State had been assassinated, that would have felt less
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significant. You know, not to take anything
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away from the Secretary of State, but Charlie held no
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office. He passed no laws.
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He didn't, you know, he just, he just wanted to talk it out and,
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and they killed him for it. Yeah, a maniac.
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We don't know who killed him, but someone who hated what he
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stood for. Yeah.
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What do you think about the future of our movement with
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Charlie's legacy? I pray fueling us and the
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movement for specifically life and family, marriage, unborn
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children. Charlie was always unapologetic
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and very vocal, which I loved because in the kind of certain
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parts of Republican Party politics that can actually get
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less, not more popular, but he just fearless, always speaking
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out for life and marriage. Well, I, I feel good about that
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in as much as I always have confidence that that the truth
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will will have its day at the very least at the end of time,
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if if not, you know, sooner, hopefully sooner.
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But I, I think things are going to get a little rough.
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And the reason I think that is because Charlie embodied the,
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the open marketplace of ideas. As I, as I mentioned, he just
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wanted to talk it out. He was the nice one.
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He was the moderate 1. He was the mainstream 1.
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He was genteel. He was so generous.
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He was so gracious to his opponents and they killed him
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for that, which means that not only did he die, but a certain
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kind of politics died. I think that is why a lot of
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people are reeling over this. Not just his friends, not even
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just his many ardent admirers, but other people too, I think
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are reeling because of that, because he didn't hold on
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office, because he was so gracious to his interlocutors
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and debate opponents. I think they recognize that in a
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in a battle, in a physical battle, and in a rhetorical
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battle, your opponent gets a say.
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You don't, you don't get to set all of the rules.
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Would would that we could, but we have tried.
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We conservatives have tried a lot over the last decade
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especially, but for many decades to have wide open debate and say
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that the answer to bad speech is more speech.
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And and in Charlie's case, he was literally in an open venue
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in an open field. And not only did the maniac kill
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him, but many people have celebrated his death on the on
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the left. And it's not just a handful of
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fringe accounts. It's like a lot of people on
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social media and it's the cable news networks have been cavalier
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at the very least about his death.
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And so it's a, a realization that we might not just get to
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hash it all out and sing Kumbaya in the, in the marketplace of
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ideas, as much as we would like to do that.
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And the, the law professor Adrian Vermeul made a very good
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point, which is, you know, the, the reaction to that, the
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assassination of that type of politics, you know, to someone
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setting off a bomb in the free marketplace of ideas.
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There, there can be two reactions. 1 is an unjust
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reaction, which would be vigilantism, retribution,
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private violence, which a lot of people understandably are
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feeling right now and and probably would like.
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That's unjust and would not be defensible.
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The other alternative is that we must use public resources to
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restore some order. We have to restrict the license
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that we have allowed to fester people to wallow in their own
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disorders and deviancy. And we have to take much more
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seriously threats which are thrown around in a cavalier way.
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We need to really start punishing people for that.
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We have to arrest more criminals.
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We have to intervene psychologically, medically,
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perhaps institutionally, when people have psychiatric
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conditions and addictions and, and all sorts of aberrations
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that make them unable to to exist in society.
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When when university professors or government officials or
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communicators defend violence against innocent people, they
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need to lose their jobs and they need to be excluded from polite
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society. And powerful institutions need
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to enforce that as they always do in in one way or the other
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that that we need to be. And I, I know Charlie had this
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in spades. We need to be more confident in
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our distinctions between right and wrong and good and bad, and
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we need to be more confident in our ability to to insist upon
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those in the public square. There.
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There must be order that I, I think that something that's been
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very jarring for people is how anarchic the whole thing feels.
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It just feels like we're, we're, the rules have gone out the
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window that a, a, a sweet, forthright 31 year old father of
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two could be gunned down for, for trying to have a polite
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conversation with someone makes one feel that the civil order
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has has fallen away. And so it is integral.
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It's, it's urgent that we, we restore that sense of order.
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And we might need to have a little bit of a heavier hand to
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do that. I think people are open to
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solutions more than I've seen even ever before, though I and
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including people more traditionally on the left.
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I saw, I think it was Dean, I forget his last name, and
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Parker, the two kind of, you know, far left, you know, young
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men, influencers. I think they had debated Charlie
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before and they were both in tears over Charlie's passing,
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some of his most, you know, passionate opponents, these two
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young guys very far left. And they, I saw them in tears
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over his passing. And I, I think there's something
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there. I mean, I agree there's been
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some really evil, vicious commentary online and a lot of
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it that is true. But I also see some people that
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seem to have a softening in their hearts that are on the
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left because of this horrific violence.
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And and that gives me hope that there is, you know, an
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opportunity here for for conscience and for conversion
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even. Yes, I, I've had a couple left
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wingers reach out to me who even, you know, one in
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particular who had been a little rough recently.
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And so I, I hope that that's the case, you know, 1 hears from a
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lot of new people. It's interesting too, that you'd
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mentioned that left wing debaters and podcast Bros and
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the sort would take this personally.
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And I, I think to some degree it's because they recognize, oh,
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Yikes. Not only is this a political
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figure being assassinated, Charlie's not the president.
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A lot of us thought he would be the president or could be the
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president, but but he's not, you know, presidents do get shot.
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That's a, that's a really dangerous job.
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But oh, no, he's Charlie's one of us.
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And for the communicators on the left, they haven't really faced
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threats of violence. And for the for the
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communicators on the right, this didn't come from nowhere.
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There have been a lot of violent acts increasing in severity over
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the years, reaching it's it's apotheosis in, in the
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assassination of the most prominent of the the right wing
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figures who, who are outside the government.
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So I wonder if there's a little self reflection.
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Yikes. You know, this could happen to
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me too. But the people who who reached
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out to me are not in politics really, or in the media.
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And and they too seem a little shaken by this.
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And I think it gets to this ultimate question, which is what
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kind of country do you want to live in?
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What kind of country do you want to live in?
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And and that does cut through ideology a little bit.
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I think it's a little more practical.
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Trump is a man for that because he's not very ideological.
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She said, do you want to live in a safe country or a violent
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country? Do you want to live?
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And and this then I think gets to something that really
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troubles people. Ronald Reagan used to say that
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he had no enemies in America, only opponents.
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And it's a it's a nice line, but it's not true anymore.
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The distinction there being that an an opponent, opponents are
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people who have the same end goal, but they just disagree
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about the ways to get there. And an enemy being enemies being
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people who have different goals, fundamentally different ends
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that they're seeking. And it might well have been the
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case that in America, we used to just have opponents, but now it
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seems that we we have fundamentally different ends.
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You know, if one, if one group wants to have borders around
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their nation and the other doesn't, that that's a different
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end. You know, it's quite different
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than the way the party spoke about immigration in the 90s.
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If one group wants to protect babies and one wants to kill
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babies, not just to protect women's bodies or women's rights
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or the the old way that they used to talk about abortion, but
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but actually want to shout their abortion, actually want to
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commit violence, that's a those are different ends, you know,
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and, and so the people who who are fighting that out really are
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enemies. And so in that way, there's a
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kind of coherence to some of the cheers on the left, some of the
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celebrations over Charlie's assassination.
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But but that can't continue that that simply cannot go on.
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We cannot allow that to go on. And so I think more reasonable
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voices have come out and said, no, you know, we don't.
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OK, hold on. Let's get back from the brink
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here. We don't.
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We don't really want that. I think there's a recognition
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that civil strife and civil wars have started for less than this.
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And I think people recognize that we're on the precipice of
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something. What do you think we can do to
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And I think in honor of Charlie's legacy, too, he was, I
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think he was both obviously for justice, but he wanted he wanted
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peace ultimately. He was that peacemaker in his in
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his whole posture. How can we, you know, any
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thoughts on how we can move forward and honoring him and
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being those peacemakers in a country, as you're saying,
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that's getting ever more tense and these tensions are just
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reaching this boiling point? Well, the thing that mattered
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most to Charlie was his religion.
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It wasn't actually winning elections, though he was very
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good at it and he cared about that too.
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And it wasn't actually this issue or that issue.
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It's completely incontrovertible among anyone who's known him or
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has even ever listened to him that what he cared most about
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was religion. And so I, I think getting back
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to basics is, is the important thing to, to recognize that a
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country that is founded on God will, could have a future.
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A, a country that is not founded on God is, is going to spiral
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off in many ways. And there, there's been a, a
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crisis of the legitimacy of the American political project.
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And I think that that is reaching a boiling point,
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especially as we reach the 250th anniversary and you have
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revisionist history, the 1619 project and all the rest, trying
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to get a handle on what exactly we are.
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And there are different ways that you can justify a a regime.
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Any regime has to have justification.
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You could say it's through sheer force of will, sheer brutality.
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There have been plenty of regimes like that in history.
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Totalitarian regimes. You can say it's based on The
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Voice of the people, Vox popoli, vox dei, A majoritarian kind of
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country. Mob rule.
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Our framers were quite fearful of that.
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Some today are are fine with it on the left and the right.
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Or you, you can ground the country on the eternal.
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You can ground the country on God, on what we can know about
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God from our own reason and the natural world.
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That that was certainly the framer's point of view.
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You know, that we are endowed by our creator with certain rights
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and that we, we can actually, you know even more about God by
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what he has revealed to us. And as his church has moved
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throughout history, which some of our framers and founders were
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were quite comfortable with, others a little bit less so, but
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that's obviously played a big role in our country too.
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But those are your options. Those are your three options.
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And so I, I really don't want to speak for Charlie.
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I don't want to speak for the dead.
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He's spoken up for himself, though.
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And I think we can deduce what, what he would land on.
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And that would be a great way to honor his legacy.
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Some people are trying to say, well, the best way to honor his
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his legacy is to just, you know, defend free speech.
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Absolutely. Or the best way to honor his
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legacy is to, I don't know, just keep doing the same thing on
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campuses. You know, sure, I'm not going to
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tell people how to grieve and I'm not going to tell people
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how, how they can and cannot honor the man.
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But I, I think the better way to honor him is, is at a deeper
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level. And I, and I think at a, at a
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broader level, because he, he was a national political figure,
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frankly, he was an international political figure.
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Multiple Heads of Government around the world, in addition to
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every living U.S. President has has issued a
18:55
statement of sympathy regarding his death.
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And so I think we need to think, think bigger.
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I, I'm very grateful to you, Michael, for being a voice it in
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Charlie's vein, one that is full of love for even those that
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you're most passionately debating and for being a voice
19:13
of moral clarity. I think that's also something
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I'm very grateful to you for, and that's what Charlie was for
19:19
us as well. So thank you for coming on,
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sharing your thoughts, wearing this together, and very grateful
19:25
for you. Very kind and right back at you.
19:29
Wonderful to see. You.
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God bless you. Hi, Nick.
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Thanks for coming on. Oh no, it's my honor.
19:36
Good to see you. You as well.
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How are you doing? It's an interesting time, isn't
19:43
it? Yeah.
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How are you? Good.
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Yeah, I I'm still, it's hard to believe it's real and just
19:49
praying a lot about what it all, what it all means for those that
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are us that are still this side of heaven.
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Yeah, yeah. We're doing, you know, some
19:59
tributes for folks, sharing what Charlie meant to them and then
20:03
just how you see the future. And I know you're, you know, I'm
20:07
incredibly grateful for you, Nick, and your voice of moral
20:09
clarity, for your courage, your leadership.
20:13
It's blessed. Me personally, it's blessed live
20:14
action. And I know Charlie was, you
20:17
know, loved you as well. So I'd just love to hear first
20:21
what year. Yeah, how you're doing and.
20:25
Maybe at one of your favorite memories of Charlie or what what
20:28
you admired most about Charlie? Anything you want to share?
20:31
You know, it's interesting. I think it's next month.
20:34
I was scheduled to actually speak on stage with Charlie Kirk
20:37
for the first time, and I remember being very excited
20:41
about it. And that's interesting because I
20:44
remember when Charlie first got started, I wasn't too sure what
20:47
I thought of him. And it's only because when
20:50
you've been in politics for a while, you end up kind of
20:52
learning the hard way that a lot of the people that you that you
20:56
looked up to or that you admired or you thought were doing really
20:58
good work, you find out something or, or you meet them
21:01
in person. And next thing you know, it's
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you kind of your image of them is shattered.
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And I remember just being really excited about meeting Charlie,
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in part because so many people I know and respect you among them
21:17
Isabel Brown, so many honors that that knew Charlie very
21:22
well. Isabel knew Charlie incredibly
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well, spoke of him not as a, as a great activist or even as a
21:30
great leader, but just as a a really good friend.
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And, and you, you can tell, you can tell by Charlie, he was, he
21:39
was kind of a naturally happy guy, right?
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Like he walked into so many environments where my my
21:44
demeanor and my look probably would have been a little bit
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more, let's just say foreboding, maybe a little bit more intense.
21:51
But Charlie would do it and it and he could be passionate, but
21:54
just friendly and engaging at the same time in a way that was
21:58
truly unique to him. And listening to people that
22:04
were, were close to him talk about like really close to him,
22:08
talk to him about his faith, his family.
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That was the other thing too, it when it came to his wife and his
22:15
kids, his faith, his wife and his kids.
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That's what animated him. It's not it's not that he he
22:22
wasn't also animated by a love of country.
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But I think one of the things that Charlie Kirk understood in
22:28
a way that we need so many more people to understand is that
22:32
politics is part of a multi front effort when it comes to
22:38
trying to save the country. Charlie was looking to do more
22:42
than that. CC really understood that
22:50
elections mattered, but they're not what saves us.
22:54
CC knew it was Christ that saves us.
22:58
And, and what was important about that for the work that
23:02
Charlie did was that it, it gave him a level of humility that I
23:08
think would have been impossible with someone of his youth and
23:13
success and access to power and everything else.
23:16
Like all of that really should have corrupted him at some
23:20
point, at least to some degree. And it, it just didn't.
23:23
And I think it's because he, he understood what all of us need
23:29
to. And that is we're all in need of
23:32
redemption. We're all in need of grace.
23:36
And CC got that. And it was reflected in the way
23:41
that he presented himself, in the way that he spoke to people
23:43
even when he was disagreeing with them.
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You could tell that he can see the humanity.
23:46
He saw the image of God and the people he spoke to.
23:51
And I don't think, I don't think the people celebrating his death
24:01
fully understand yet what it means.
24:07
I don't know what they hope to accomplish.
24:09
I don't know what the people celebrating hope to accomplish.
24:14
But I do know that that God, God turns that which was meant for
24:20
evil to his own purposes. And, and I think you already
24:26
start to see, I think you already start to see that
24:29
happening. But anyways, that's the the
24:34
thing that I I respect most about Charlie was not just his,
24:37
his wit or his intelligence. I, I loved that.
24:42
I think he was on iced coffee hour where he, he got asked,
24:46
what do you want to remember before he said, you mean like if
24:48
I die, He said, yeah, if it's all gone tomorrow.
24:51
And he goes courage of my faith. And I was talking about this
24:58
earlier, like the, the there's a lot of accolades that you can
25:01
give Charlie Kirk a lot of, a lot of titles, a lot of things
25:05
that would distinguish him that would be absolutely deserved.
25:08
And, and certainly again, titles are accolades that would be
25:12
desirable that anybody would want or anybody would recognize
25:15
as being worthy. But the the greatest, the
25:19
greatest accolade any of us can ever hear or receive is a well
25:28
done, good and faithful servant. And I think I think Charlie
25:32
understood that as well. I think Charlie understood that
25:36
everything he was doing ultimately had to be in service
25:39
to God. And in so far as he was faithful
25:41
in that mission, then regardless of how long he was given it, he
25:49
would be doing what God put him on this earth to do.
25:52
And then I'll, I'll say one other thing about Charlie that
25:54
I, I deeply respect. There's a lot of people in this
25:56
world that recognize a certain element of success and their
25:59
goal is to protect it. I think Charlie looked at not
26:04
only the gifts he was given with gratitude, but with great
26:08
responsibility. And Charlie Kirk, probably more
26:11
than anybody else within the political space and and arguably
26:17
within many of the spaces within our faith as well, recognize
26:21
that his job was not simply to be successful, what he was
26:25
called to do, but to teach others, to guide others, to
26:28
mentor others, and to disciple others so that they could do the
26:31
same. And those people, as much as
26:36
we're grieving right now, have just been issued their moment of
26:40
absolute moral clarity. There's been a couple of times
26:47
in my life where I kind of, I wasn't sure what was next.
26:53
And then something happened and I just knew I wasn't confused
26:58
anymore. There was no, there was no
27:01
doubt. And a lot of times,
27:04
unfortunately, it's when something tragic happens.
27:09
But I think there's a lot of people now where even though
27:14
there there may be some question as to what exactly happens next,
27:19
they know. They know that they have to step
27:23
up. And then now it's their time.
27:26
And their job is not to wait for somebody else to come along.
27:31
Their job is to take the example that was given to them and now
27:34
step up. So yeah.
27:39
That gives me hope. That gives me hope, though,
27:43
because those people are, I believe, Charlie, inspired in
27:47
his life and in his passing to people to do just that, to step
27:51
out, step up in faith. Yeah, I know that that was the,
27:57
IT was funny because there's been so many questions about
27:59
who's going to be the next Charlie Kirk and I and I, again,
28:02
I, I don't claim to have been, you know, best friends with
28:06
Charlie or anything like that, but I don't, I think Charlie
28:10
would look you like, what are you doing?
28:12
What are you doing looking for the next Charlie Kirk?
28:14
He's like, no, I was, I was trying to point you toward
28:16
Christ. Christ will raise up the people
28:19
that he needs for the time and purpose that he needs them.
28:24
So follow, look for that, look for Christ and then have faith
28:30
that'll move the people into the positions that he needs them to.
28:32
And now it's just a question of being obedient to the person,
28:35
the purpose God's given to you. And Charlie modeled that so
28:38
wonderfully. So AM.
28:43
Nick, I have to ask you about how you see the future.
28:46
You've spoken to it a little bit already, but the future of the
28:49
country tensions are at this fever pitch.
28:52
You know Michael was on earlier. Michael knows talking about
28:54
that, his concerns about that. I know you are very clued into
29:00
those tensions and are speaking truth into the tensions
29:03
regularly with your own very compassionate but strong voice.
29:08
How do you see the next months, years playing out in politics
29:13
and culture? What gives you hope about the
29:18
causes that we fight for in the future of this country?
29:23
I've been leading reading Romans 12A lot and, and it's, it's
29:29
interesting because it's encouraging, but it's also a
29:31
little bit frustrating when Romans 12 commands us to not be
29:35
overcome by evil, but to overcome evil with good.
29:41
And the, the best way I could explain it is I know it's true,
29:48
but the last, the last day or so, I've had a have a hard time
29:52
feeling it. And so I, I think because I'm
30:01
just angry. And The thing is, is that I've
30:04
been in occupations where when I was angry, there was something
30:08
very obvious I was able to do about it.
30:11
When I was angry about what was going on in the war zone, there
30:17
was a very obvious, a very morally clear way to go about
30:23
handling it. And, and you know, you, you, you
30:30
put that guy away when you get home and then something happens
30:36
and you really want to let him out.
30:44
And so I, I think part of what this is, is recognizing gosh
30:48
Dang it, part of what this is, is, is recognizing that I don't
30:55
want to hear this the same old banter about like, well, you
31:00
know, we've got to unify and we've, we've got to show
31:03
solidarity with everybody. And this is just what Michael
31:06
said earlier was correct. It's it's this idea that, oh,
31:11
well, you know, I don't, I don't have any opponents or I don't
31:13
have any enemies. I just have opponents.
31:15
Well, no, no, there's enemies now.
31:17
I didn't choose to make them enemies.
31:19
I didn't want them to be enemies.
31:20
Charlie didn't want them to be enemies.
31:22
Charlie never treated them like enemies.
31:26
But this is a fight not ultimately against flesh and
31:31
blood. It is a fight against
31:33
diametrically opposed world views.
31:35
One side absolutely wants the destruction of the unborn under
31:40
any circumstances. They want to give chemical
31:43
castration medicine to gender confused 10 year olds, right?
31:48
They they want to repeatedly strip away at rights and
31:51
freedoms and liberties. You see it.
31:53
At some point you compel us to fight back, not because we want
31:59
to, but because our only other option is capitulation.
32:04
And I think what people need to hear right now is that there is
32:08
a way to fight back against this, and it will never include,
32:13
It will never include doing to them what they did to Charlie.
32:18
Never. But that doesn't mean that we
32:22
are not is supposed to train and prepare spiritually,
32:28
intellectually, emotionally, professionally, physically.
32:32
We are I, I feel like, I almost feel like on some level we've
32:37
gone from a peacetime footing to a wartime footing.
32:41
And again, I can't emphasize this enough.
32:43
It does not mean you ever do to others what they did to Charlie.
32:47
But it does mean that we understand what this fight
32:50
really is because this fight is not Democrat and Republican.
32:54
There is evil at work. And if you don't properly
32:56
understand what evil is, if you don't have a worldview or a
32:58
moral framework or theological framework that actually
33:01
articulates what that is, you don't know what you're fighting.
33:05
And you're going to constantly one side of the side you get,
33:08
you're going to go. You're going to go over the
33:09
rails. You're going to do things that
33:10
you shouldn't do. And on the other side, you're
33:13
going to rely on complacency. How?
33:15
Well, it can't be that bad. No.
33:16
Yeah, it can. It's been this bad for a while.
33:19
It's now just become painfully obvious to all of us.
33:23
And the thing that I would say with with Charlie is that he
33:25
gave us an excellent example of what it means to follow Christ
33:32
and to do so diligently and with courage.
33:36
And now we know that there can be a real cost to it.
33:38
And guess what? That has been the experience of
33:42
people throughout all of human history.
33:45
We got used to it being peaceful.
33:47
We got used to it being safe and now it isn't anymore.
33:51
And so you, we're going to have to adjust for that.
33:55
But we also have to be faithful to our purpose.
33:58
And we have to conduct ourselves in a way that is faithful to our
34:00
purpose. So yeah.
34:05
Thank you, Nick, thank you for your courage and not backing
34:10
down or never backing down. And you know, we're in this
34:14
together and God is on the throne.
34:19
Well, you, you asked me, Lila, and I'll, I'll, I'll end with
34:22
this because I know you've, you've got other people to talk
34:24
to. You asked me what gives me hope.
34:31
God is always the, the source of hope.
34:33
Christ is the source of my hope. And, and every once in a while,
34:44
he sends people in your life that also give you hope.
34:50
Charlie was definitely one of those people.
34:52
And Charlie also understood. And this is a part that I want
34:55
to emphasize because a lot of people kind of dismiss it, but I
34:58
don't think Charlie ever did. There's a reason why there has
35:02
been such an attempt for over a century now, such an attempt to
35:08
undermine and degrade the family, to degrade the role of
35:12
men and women's society, of husband and wives, of mothers
35:15
and fathers. There's a reason why that is.
35:17
And so many people want to skirt past it and focus on tax policy.
35:20
And Charlie was one that understood now.
35:22
Now there's a reason why they're going after this.
35:24
There's a reason why that's being attacked and the fact that
35:28
they're attacking it so hard to inform us about something.
35:32
And when you do meet that woman or meet that man that you, you,
35:38
you exchange vows with and you agree to share all of the trials
35:43
and all the joys of this world with.
35:45
And then you get to take part in the one of the greatest things
35:49
you possibly can, which is the creation of, of new human life.
35:52
You, you not only you not only recognize the, the hope in this
35:58
world, but you end up having something to fight for that is
36:02
not easily taken away from you. You have something that someone
36:06
might be able to make a good argument, but they can't deny
36:08
that the love that you feel for your wife or husband.
36:10
They can't deny the love and the protection, that sense of
36:13
protection that you feel for your children.
36:15
And I think Charlie fundamentally knew that if we
36:17
can get people to once again fully embrace, realize and
36:20
experience that they would understand what they were
36:23
fighting for. I love that get get married and
36:28
have kids. Yeah, yeah.
36:32
And grandkids, I know you're on your way for that.
36:34
I'm hoping I'm close. No, but thank.
36:37
But again, thank you, Lila, and thank you for everything.
36:39
Live action is done because you guys have been essential in that
36:42
fight and it's going to pick up even more.
36:44
But it's also the area where I think we I think we win because
36:48
there is something just beautiful about having a family.
36:51
Amen. Thank you, Nick.
36:53
God bless you. Take care of yourself.
36:55
You too. Hi, Kristen.
36:58
Hello. How are you holding up?
37:01
I'm here. Let's just put it that way.
37:06
Thanks for joining. Yeah, I know.
37:08
Thanks for doing this podcast. You know, I met Charlie right
37:13
after he launched Turning Point. And I remember I was, I flew
37:18
into Chicago. I mean, I'm outside of O'Hare.
37:22
And we were just talking about what Turning Point envisioned
37:26
Turning Point to be, what they weren't going to be.
37:29
And I remember really pressuring him at the time and really speak
37:33
up on abortion. And I think one of the things
37:36
that I really enjoyed over the years is watching Charlie grow
37:42
deeper in his faith. I think his wife, Erica had a
37:46
lot to do with that. And she, I, I actually had the
37:50
privilege of meeting Erica a couple years before I met
37:52
Charlie. I have a fundraiser students for
37:56
life was had put together in in Phoenix.
37:59
And she was and has been always steadfast in her, her faith and
38:05
her devotion to the Lord. And I think for me, it's been
38:10
it's really exciting to kind of see Charlie grow in his faith
38:13
and to see, you know, these campus tour videos of him
38:17
speaking so boldly against abortion.
38:20
I remember one time I was in the studio, I mean, we're doing a
38:23
podcast and he had this like notepad out and like every fact
38:26
I he could write down as fast as possible from our interview, he
38:29
was writing down and he was somebody was always just
38:33
learning, wanting to learn more and, and always growing.
38:37
And I think that, you know, it's been an honor and it was always
38:41
an honor to work with him. And I think one of the things,
38:44
you know, we gave him our Defender of Life award this year
38:47
at the National Pro-life Summit. And, and I told him backstage
38:50
before I went on to do some, and I said, you know, I can't really
38:54
share everything with this audience and tell them why
38:58
you're getting this award. And I hope they just trust me
39:01
that you deserve this award. And, and he, he so did for the
39:06
things that I can say. And we, we publicly know that he
39:10
did from the very, very personal conversations that he had with
39:15
President Trump, his administration of, of really
39:19
being this inside voice for the pro-life movement inside of the
39:24
White House. You know, we just got the news
39:27
that a federal judge is now suspended the preliminary
39:32
injunction on defunding a Planned Parenthood for one year,
39:35
Medicaid funds. And I just tweeted out, Charlie,
39:38
you did this. Charlie was there.
39:40
He was, you know, he was the first person I called after I
39:44
spoke with Speaker Johnson the spring when it was all going to
39:46
fall apart. We thought I was going to fall
39:48
apart in the BBB. He was the first person who I
39:52
said I need your help, I need you to make a call.
39:55
And he was always there for us. And, and I think we, we've seen,
39:59
you know, Lila and all of these social media posts from our
40:02
friends or the past couple days of folks sharing text messages
40:06
with Charlie. It wasn't just me he was like
40:10
this with, it was everyone who needed help.
40:13
He was always there with him. And so it's just this is, it's
40:18
devastating because not only have we lost this.
40:22
Amazing friend and this amazing human being that now we are all
40:27
going to miss out on. It's I, I, I'm happy for him and
40:31
I have to keep testing my faith because I know he died a martyr.
40:35
I know he is with our Savior. But I'm so sad for his wife, for
40:41
Erica, who did not deserve this as two children who are
40:46
beautiful, who are, who are never going to grow up with
40:50
their father. And I'm sad for our country.
40:55
You know, I was yesterday when the, when the news came out.
41:00
And I always keep my phone with me when I'm on campus tabling
41:02
and doing our displays. And I had my Ted out.
41:05
I was at the University of Montana, Missoula.
41:08
And I was on my phone in case my husband needs me if something's
41:10
wrong with the kids. And it started buzzing and
41:14
Charlie was shot and we didn't know what was going on.
41:17
And I, I stopped, you know, these 150 kids that were like
41:22
debating slash shouting at me for two hours and I told them
41:26
what had happened. And the instant cheers and the
41:31
laughter that they had, I'll never forget that it was, you
41:39
know, and I started talking to him.
41:40
I was like, why are you? Why are you laughing?
41:42
I just told you my friend was shot.
41:44
We don't know if he's alive. We don't know what's going on.
41:46
Well, why would your first instinct be to raise your fist
41:50
in the air? One one man shouted, This is
41:52
war. And I and I went on to lecture
41:57
them like this is the culture of death.
42:01
Now, you've been telling me for two hours that a child in the
42:03
room may be a human, but you don't care.
42:06
You literally don't care. Even if it kill, even if you
42:09
think abortion's killing, you simply don't care.
42:13
And I guess I shouldn't be surprised when I tell you my
42:16
friend has been shot and could be dead, that you don't care
42:20
about that either. And I think, you know, I ended
42:22
up I had to, I had to, to leave campus for security reasons.
42:27
But I ended the conversation with saying, I don't even know
42:31
how to debate you at this moment because you can't even have
42:34
sympathy for a husband, a father, a fellow human being who
42:39
you simply have political disagreements with.
42:42
You think that this violence is justified now.
42:44
It was, it was so weird because yesterday morning I had, I was
42:50
reading in judges, like the end of judges or they're talking
42:53
about, you know, Israel's fallen apart.
42:56
The Kingdom is a mess. And there's this, this scripture
43:00
code of, of, you know, in those days, every man just did what he
43:03
thought was right. That's what this is.
43:06
And then I saw this quote this morning that one of my, our team
43:09
members had sent me from Pope Benedict.
43:12
And this quote from Pope Benedict was, you know, a reason
43:16
is this gift from God. Reason is a gift from God in the
43:19
but when we abandoned reason, this we only give violence.
43:24
And so it's like now you have this ironic turning point moment
43:30
where it's do we abandoned reason?
43:32
Do we stop going to campuses? Do we stop our work of fear for
43:36
our own safety and let this insanity continue and let
43:41
violence continue? Or do we challenge ourselves?
43:43
Do we challenge our country to embrace reason?
43:46
And that's what you know, This is a moment and I and I hope we
43:51
we choose wisely. Kristen, thank you for your
43:54
fearlessness. You are fearless and your
43:57
dedication. You've been doing this decades
44:00
now, blazing this path on campuses and speaking no matter
44:04
the kind of hate you get thrown. So thank you and please take
44:07
care of yourself. You know, we you too.
44:11
And, and thank you for coming on.
44:12
I know you're about to do a prayer vigil too, for Charlie
44:15
and his family very beautifully. So thanks for joining this and
44:19
for sharing your, your heart about Charlie.
44:21
And I know we're both inspired by him and grateful for the path
44:25
that he was blazing. And we hope we can carry his
44:27
torch along with millions of others.
44:30
So thank you, Kristen. Amen.
44:34
Thank you. Hi, Seth.
44:36
Hey, how's it going going? All right.
44:38
How are you holding up? I'm sad, pretty sad, but you
44:47
know, I am, I am hopeful. I'm hopeful that Charlie
44:53
inspired a lot of people and that there's going to be some,
44:56
some positives that come from this.
44:57
But you know, I, most of my sadness doesn't come from losing
45:00
Charlie personally, though I did.
45:01
I do miss him but his family has poor family sucks.
45:06
Yeah, we're sharing. Folks are sharing what Charlie
45:10
meant to them personally, a memory that showed just CC's
45:15
incredible talent and gifts and drive and vision.
45:19
Anything you want to share about Charlie?
45:22
Sure, you want me to start now? Well, it's something I
45:31
immediately thought to share online when it was actually
45:34
confirmed that he'd died because, you know, I was, I was
45:38
like many people hopeful that they were going to be able to
45:40
stabilize him and, and, you know, just praying for a miracle
45:44
because it didn't look like he was going to be able to survive
45:46
that. And but you never know, God can
45:49
work miracles. And a lot of people were praying
45:52
for him and I was hopeful he'd pull through.
45:55
And when it was clear that he wasn't going to and that we lost
45:59
him, I was trying to think of, you know, a good way to honor
46:03
him. What could I say?
46:04
And I wanted to share with people, you know, because I
46:06
think with people like Charlie, people like you and me, you
46:08
know, they, they have this perception of us as people from
46:12
what we put out there to the world publicly, the talks that
46:15
we give, you know, the podcast that we host or were interviewed
46:18
on. And they don't know us
46:19
personally. They don't know what we're
46:20
actually like. And I actually am one of the
46:23
fortunate few who got to know Charlie on a personal level, you
46:27
know, through the intersection of what we both do in the
46:29
conservative movement and him inviting me to these events and
46:32
being a part of Turning Point events, which I've been very
46:34
grateful for over the years. You know, I've had a chance to
46:38
develop a relationship with him. And so I was just with him
46:41
recently a few weeks ago for a couple of days.
46:44
And we had meals together, we talked together, we laughed
46:47
together, we talked about the future of the country and some
46:51
of the challenges that we face. And just coming out of that, it
46:55
was very heavy. It was a couple of days of just
46:57
very heavy discussion of, of what the future is going to look
46:59
like and, and what role can we play in it.
47:02
And, and he sent me a couple of text messages just to say, Hey,
47:06
man, I'm here for you. You ever need me, I'm here for
47:08
you. And, and a scripture verse about
47:12
how, you know, God is our refuge and strength from the Psalms.
47:15
And that was Charlie. You know, that was Charlie on a
47:19
personal level. It was this proactive, reaching
47:22
out, trying to be an encourager and let everybody know, hey,
47:24
I've got your back, I'm with you, you need me.
47:27
I'm here. And, and here, by the way, is an
47:29
encouraging passage from Scripture to, to uplift your
47:33
spirits and to give you confidence that you know, God
47:36
also has your back and is in your corner.
47:38
I mean, his faith was fundamental to who he was.
47:41
This was not an act. It was not a show.
47:42
It wasn't something he just did to make himself look special or
47:46
superior, it was deeply personal to him and it resulted in him
47:51
living out the feuds, fruits of the Spirit in his own life.
47:54
And so I'm just grateful to have known him and I miss him.
48:00
Do you, I know it's just the next day.
48:04
We're filming this, this is coming out tomorrow.
48:06
And I'm seeing mixed responses from people, A lot of people who
48:13
are very angry. Obviously everyone's grieving,
48:15
still shocked, but people who are very worried about the
48:18
future. And you've always been someone
48:21
who struck me, Seth, with your moral clarity, but also your
48:26
optimism. You, you, you see things as they
48:28
are, but you're also positive. You, you, you have hope for our
48:32
future. You, you laugh, you know, like
48:36
literally rebel MP laughs and makes jokes about stuff.
48:39
But there's like the vision of things can get better even
48:42
though they're bad right now. What do you I know it's hard to
48:46
ask us today with so much grief, but what are some words you
48:50
might say to other people to encourage them about the future?
48:56
Well, at a Turning Point event, I addressed this question not
49:03
that long ago, last year, you know, to, to encourage people
49:08
that I am hopeful for the future.
49:11
You know, as dark as things get, and they, things do often get
49:13
very dark. And you have these moments,
49:15
especially punctuated moments in time, like like yesterday, that
49:18
where it just seems like there's nothing but despair.
49:22
And it can be so disheartening. But what I'm encouraged about,
49:26
and I think this reflects Charlie's thinking on this, is
49:29
that humanity is hungry for for truth and goodness and beauty.
49:33
They are. And our culture has been at war
49:36
with these things for a very long time.
49:39
And I think what we've seen recently, you know, a lot of the
49:42
winds that we've been racking up in the culture, in the courts,
49:47
have reflected a desire to return to sanity, a desire to
49:50
return to the truth, a desire to, to see this moral inversion
49:54
that's happened flipped back the correct way.
49:57
And, and I think that's because that's baked into us by design.
50:01
You know, this is how our creator made us.
50:02
He made us to crave these things.
50:03
And so when you take, when you take the truth and the goodness
50:06
and the beauty away from the picture, when you take it out of
50:08
the context, you leave a man there like a person in the
50:12
desert without water, He becomes thirsty over time and he wants
50:15
it back and he needs it. His soul craves it.
50:18
And so I'm optimistic for that reason, because of who designed
50:21
us and what they designed us for.
50:23
I'm optimistic that people will we'll crave the truth and we'll
50:26
return to it. And I think we're seeing that.
50:28
We're literally seeing it play out in the culture.
50:30
And so Charlie would say, you know, don't get, don't put your
50:33
head down and sulk and trudge around, you know, hopeless and,
50:36
and become full of despair. He would say, lift your head
50:39
upside high, throw your shoulders back and charge
50:41
forward into the future and keep carrying this banner of truth
50:44
and faith and freedom like I have up to this point.
50:47
Take it here, it's yours now. Amen, Seth, thank you for doing
50:52
that. You've always been that voice.
50:54
I mean, I, I like Charlie, moral clarity, courage, talking about
50:59
the value of human life, the dignity of marriage, family and
51:03
the importance of family, the importance of God, putting God
51:06
first. So I'm grateful for you.
51:09
Stay safe. And just one, one last thought
51:13
on that too, because, you know, we do face a choice.
51:16
You know, there is a choice. I think one option, one path of
51:21
the fork in front of us, is to follow in Charlie's footsteps,
51:24
which is to engage the other side in good faith, advance the
51:29
truth, use the freedom that we have and the constitutional
51:33
framework that we've set up, which is good.
51:36
America is good, our Constitution is good.
51:38
This is a country worth fighting for and we have the tools at our
51:40
disposal to to to ensure that law and order prevail and in
51:46
that our voices are able to be heard.
51:49
Charlie would go down that path of wanting healthy and good
51:53
faith engagement with the other side.
51:55
I do see a danger of in the risk of people in their emotion,
51:59
people in their rage and their anger and their desire for
52:02
vengeance going down another path of saying fire needs to be
52:05
fought with fire. And if the left is going to
52:08
throw all the rules out the window and they're going to come
52:10
after us, then it's time for us to go after them proactively.
52:13
And let's let's have this war. The war needs to be fought in
52:19
the marketplace of ideas. The war needs to be, you know,
52:23
obviously enforcing the law and putting people in prison who
52:25
deserve it and making sure they're not getting out on the
52:27
streets too soon and victimizing people and all those things.
52:30
You can accomplish that within the guidelines of what the
52:32
Constitution already has established for us.
52:34
And so there's there's there's no reason for us to go off the
52:38
deep end. And I think Charlie would urge
52:39
against that. In fact, we have his own words.
52:41
You can go back and find his tweets.
52:43
And I think people should rely heavily on Charlie's own words
52:46
for where we should go from here.
52:48
Amen. Thank you, Seth.
52:50
Thank you, Lila. Thank you for everything you're
52:52
doing. Keep it up.
52:53
We're in this together. Yes.
52:58
Charlie Oh, this is hard. I think what people are really
53:08
struggling with today, Lila, is that Charlie wasn't just a
53:13
podcast host. He wasn't just somebody who
53:17
spoke on campuses. He wasn't just ATV personality
53:20
or a media personality. Charlie, despite telling me for
53:23
years that that other people were the ideological leader of
53:27
the conservative movement or the moral leader of the conservative
53:30
movement, it was Charlie. And yesterday, we lost a friend
53:40
and a giant and a mentor, but I think we also lost the voice of
53:45
a generation. And I'm seeing thousands and
53:49
thousands and thousands of videos on social media today of
53:53
people, just ordinary college students or Gen.
53:56
Zers, people who are saying, you know, I was conditioned to hate
53:59
this person. I saw countless pieces of media
54:05
propaganda telling me that this person was my enemy.
54:07
And yet I'm sitting with this. And something in my soul is
54:13
wrong. Something is deeply disturbing
54:16
about this, and it's causing me to question everything.
54:20
And I think whether he realized it or not, even for the people
54:23
that vehemently disagreed with him, Charlie was still their
54:25
voice for this generation. He set, he set the moral tone
54:31
and the moral foundation for what should be the framework of
54:36
this culture war that we're fighting for what we should be
54:40
reasonably expecting to call home in our country and in our
54:43
in our Western civilization. And certainly in the wake of the
54:49
last 24 hours without him, every one of us who does this for a
54:56
living, I think it's just feeling empty.
54:57
And we don't, we don't know what comes next.
55:00
We don't know who picks up that microphone as one individual,
55:05
but I I really have to believe that all of us collectively have
55:08
to continue that fight and continue keeping him rooted at
55:12
the center of what we fight for every day because his leadership
55:17
could never be matched by anyone else.
55:19
He's truly a lion and the epitome of a servant leader.
55:25
And more than anything, in the last day or so, I've I've really
55:29
been struck by the number of posts on social media from other
55:31
creators or people who work here in Washington, DC, or have
55:36
crossed paths with Charlie in some capacity in the nonprofit
55:38
world. The number of people who have
55:40
screenshots of text messages from Charlie or specific
55:44
anecdotes about Charlie preparing them for marriage or
55:47
giving them parenting advice or making sure that they knew he
55:51
was there for them when their mom or dad was sick.
55:54
At first, it kind of feels like, OK, truly, this man couldn't
55:57
have had that many personal close friends.
56:00
He couldn't have possibly touched that many people on on
56:02
such a deep personal level. But he did.
56:05
And that's what I think set Charlie apart so substantially
56:08
as he was easily the busiest man I've ever met in my life.
56:11
He could sleep for 30 minutes every night and and get up and
56:14
work 24 hour days and truly have this endurance unlike anything
56:19
I've ever seen. But in the midst of all of that
56:21
set time apart for other people. And that truly is is what I'll
56:26
miss about him the most. But to answer your full
56:28
question, as I'm working through all these feelings in real time,
56:31
you know, for me, Charlie was so much more than just an ally.
56:35
He was so much more than just someone I looked up to or a role
56:40
model. Really it's because of Charlie
56:42
that I do what I do every single day and I would have a
56:45
completely different career if it wasn't for him.
56:48
He quite literally plucked me out of obscurity as a pre Med
56:51
student on my campus at Colorado State and saw something in me
56:55
encouraging me to to do something in this media world
56:58
and as a commentator to just try to tell the truth to a larger
57:03
community than my college campus.
57:05
It's because of Charlie that I have the family that I do now
57:09
working at Turning Point USA. My husband and I met working at
57:12
that incredible organization that I owe so much of my life to
57:15
at an infamous TV USA conference, which so many
57:18
people's marriages fortunately started in the same way.
57:22
And my daughter wouldn't exist if it wasn't for for that
57:25
journey. But I think more important than
57:27
anything else, Charlie really is the foundation for my adult
57:32
faith life, which is so silly because we often would debate
57:35
about Catholic. I just did everything.
57:38
And I know you can relate to that, Lila.
57:40
And in fact, a week ago when I was the last other creator to
57:45
share the stage with Charlie at an event we were speaking at at
57:48
a church in Central California for the pro-life movement.
57:51
We actually talked about you for a few minutes in the green room.
57:53
And he was saying that he just so admired your heart for the
57:56
Lord and the work that you do to, to advance the gospel every
58:00
single day. And we found ourselves talking
58:03
more than anything about heaven, about Mary, about the insurance
58:07
and outs of theological debate for over an hour.
58:10
And I, I cherish that so, so deeply.
58:12
But it's because I had a front row seat for the last eight
58:15
years of my life, just in complete awe and wonder of this
58:19
young man and his massive heart for God and his massive courage
58:29
for his vocation that God called him to, to just bring truth to
58:32
the world and to fight evil. He was so aware of that and he
58:36
was so eager to run the race that God put before him and to
58:41
show up as a good and faithful servant.
58:43
He knew more Scripture than anybody I've ever met.
58:45
He was so passionate about church history and the Church
58:49
fathers and everything he could possibly learn about the
58:52
insurance and outs of theology. And that's the side of Charlie
58:55
that I hope the world will remember because everybody has
58:59
an image of who he is based on TV hits or radio, the things
59:03
that you saw on X or just, you know, horrible, horrible
59:07
messages from people who are trying to distort his image and
59:10
the legacy that he's leaving behind in the wake of this
59:12
horrible tragedy. But ultimately, Charlie was just
59:16
a guy. He was just a person.
59:18
He was just like you and me and dedicated his life to showing up
59:23
and being something bigger than himself, truly by the grace of
59:26
God every single day. And that's the legacy that I
59:30
hope I will be able to carry on thanks to the opportunities that
59:33
Charlie will continue to give us from eternal life and has given
59:38
me throughout the past nearly decade of my life.
59:41
But certainly as he continues to inspire an entire generation,
59:44
the outpouring of love and support and courage I'm seeing
59:49
from Jen's ears from all over the world, the the comments I'm
59:52
getting on my social media and the videos I'm seeing in my
59:54
TikTok feed are earth shattering, incredibly humbling.
1:00:00
And they're igniting a fire in all of us that I keep seeing
1:00:04
this, this tagline to create a wildfire out of the spark that
1:00:11
Charlie ignited. He was a giant and a lion and
1:00:16
someone who can never be replaced.
1:00:19
But I truly have to believe, as I do for everything, that
1:00:22
goodwill come out of this. And God works all things
1:00:24
together for good. And I don't know that he could
1:00:27
have ever seen the impact that he would have just one day after
1:00:30
he was gone from this earth and looking over us in eternal life.
1:00:34
Now God, I wish He was here to see it.
1:00:38
I, I think that I, I believe he's in heaven and you know, we
1:00:44
had Catholics, I know we believe in purgatory.
1:00:46
If he did do purgatory, I think it was pretty quick and, and,
1:00:51
but, but I think he's going to do more from heaven, even more
1:00:55
from heaven as he did an incredible amount 31 years.
1:01:00
And I looked up to him. I'm older than him and I looked
1:01:02
up to him. I learned from him and I looked
1:01:05
up to him and I know, you know, he was a generational talent.
1:01:08
He selected, he he helped bring out new generational talents
1:01:11
like yourself, Isabel, you are a generational talent.
1:01:15
I mean, that was part of his talent that he did that.
1:01:17
But I think he's going to. He can do even more from heaven.
1:01:20
I totally agree, I said in my very teary horrible podcast
1:01:25
today that's just desperately trying to get through.
1:01:28
I keep seeing a lot of posts saying that Charlie was
1:01:32
undoubtedly our future President of the United States, and I
1:01:35
believe that. I wholeheartedly believe that.
1:01:37
I used to joke that my ultimate dream job was to be Charlie
1:01:40
Kirk's White House Press Secretary.
1:01:41
It would have been phenomenal. And it would have been an
1:01:44
amazing adventure together, like all of the crazy adventures
1:01:47
together that we took. But I actually have come to
1:01:50
believe in the last year or so more than anything, but
1:01:53
especially this last week after seeing him for the last time and
1:01:56
spending some time together, that he was so much bigger than
1:01:59
that. I mean, arguably he had more
1:02:01
influence than an impact than the President of the United
1:02:04
States now, which is crazy because that just to speak to
1:02:08
that level of world impact as one individual is so hard to
1:02:12
wrap your head around. I think Charlie was on the path
1:02:17
to become a St. I really do.
1:02:19
And I know that you don't have to be canonized on earth to be a
1:02:23
St. in heaven. And I just keep thinking of
1:02:25
Charlie up there talking with all of his philosophical heroes
1:02:28
of all of the great thinkers of the past and people who had such
1:02:32
courage to be martyred for the truth and to dedicate their life
1:02:37
to the gospel and to the love of God that Charlie was so
1:02:40
passionate about sharing. Whether we call him a capital S
1:02:45
St. or not on earth during this lifetime.
1:02:47
I I have to believe he's up there living that exact life
1:02:50
now. Beautiful, Isabel.
1:02:53
Thank you. I You are a voice of moral
1:02:56
clarity and you are a generational talent.
1:02:59
I know you spoke about Charlie that way.
1:03:00
I believe that about you and I, I mean, I know Charlie was
1:03:04
obviously extremely proud of you and it's incredible the way he
1:03:08
mentored you. It's inspiring to me.
1:03:11
You're inspiring to me. And I just want to thank you.
1:03:14
Thanks for sharing about what Charlie meant to you and thanks
1:03:17
for being you, fearless, convicted, and also loving.
1:03:22
Your heart is on fire with love. I know for God and for others.
1:03:26
So thank you. It's about keep it up and stay
1:03:29
safe. Thank you.
1:03:29
And if I can just share one thing with your audience too,
1:03:32
Lila, I just, I want to encourage everyone that this is
1:03:35
obviously such a scary and uncertain time.
1:03:37
There's so many questions that we're all asking ourselves about
1:03:41
what happens next and where do we go from here and how do we
1:03:44
continue doing this every day, especially in the creator world.
1:03:47
But the message that I'm hoping to share today, and I know
1:03:50
Charlie would want all of you to know, is that we have to keep
1:03:54
going. We have to keep speaking the
1:03:56
truth. We have to keep sharing love in
1:03:58
a very broken world. And my husband and I took a walk
1:04:01
out of our home today for the first time since everything
1:04:04
happened yesterday, about 24 hours later.
1:04:06
And eventually, we kind of found ourselves wandering into our
1:04:09
parish, into our church in the middle of the afternoon.
1:04:12
There were a handful of people in there.
1:04:13
If you're listening to this now, sorry you heard my horrifying
1:04:16
sobs just racking through this church for a while.
1:04:20
And we pulled out today's Mass readings, and I'm still
1:04:26
wrestling with them and I'm still trying to work through
1:04:28
them. But amazingly, because God is
1:04:31
God, today's Mass readings were about loving your enemies and
1:04:34
praying for people who persecute you.
1:04:38
There's a lot of crazy stuff I'm seeing about Charlie on the
1:04:40
Internet. But if anything, he loved
1:04:43
people. He loved our intellect, our
1:04:48
ability to question things, our human nature, and our common
1:04:52
shared humanity. And all all he ever wanted to
1:04:55
do, his greatest mission in life was to get people to fall in
1:04:58
love with that, too. And I just hope and I pray that
1:05:01
every one of us, by the grace of God, can hit our knees tonight
1:05:04
and tomorrow and the next day and the next day after that to
1:05:07
find courage that's bigger than ourselves.
1:05:09
To ask the Holy Spirit for that fire that Charlie had so that we
1:05:12
can pick up that baton and move forward.
1:05:14
Because it's never been more important for us to continue
1:05:16
running that race. Amen.
1:05:19
I saw those mass readings too this morning and I was just,
1:05:22
it's God speaking to every soul who's willing to pay attention.
1:05:27
Truly, truly. Thank you, Isabel, Thank you so
1:05:31
much. Thank you for coming in there.
1:05:33
Love you guys very much. God bless.
1:05:36
You. Yes, I also want to share a
1:05:39
message to every single person right now who is feeling
1:05:43
temptations to fear or despair or anxiety.
1:05:47
I want to encourage all of you, do not fear, do not despair.
1:05:54
Have great hope and optimism for our future.
1:05:57
I know many people right now are feeling a helplessness they're
1:06:01
feeling and anxiety, even a temptation to despair because of
1:06:06
how dark it looks right now. And I want to encourage you,
1:06:11
evil will not win. Evil will not win.
1:06:16
Jesus Christ is Lord. Our hope is in heaven and this
1:06:21
side of heaven, there is more goodness in people's hearts than
1:06:24
there is evil. So many people.
1:06:26
I see people that oppose Charlie who disagreed.
1:06:30
Yes, there's many that are mocking and really it's
1:06:33
diabolical some of the hatred being shown online.
1:06:36
But I see others who are grieving too.
1:06:38
People who completely disagreed with Charlie's politics.
1:06:41
I see people's hearts who are softening.
1:06:43
There is so much good still, and I think that's what Charlie did
1:06:47
so beautifully and tried so hard.
1:06:49
Especially as his career developed and he got more and
1:06:52
more successful, he would just talk more and more about Jesus
1:06:55
and more and more about hope and more and more about family and
1:06:58
starting a family in the value of children.
1:07:01
So don't despair. Evil does not win.
1:07:05
Let's build a new beautiful culture, one that sees the imago
1:07:09
day in every person, including those that disagree with us.
1:07:13
Let's never resort to the evil tactics, to the violence of
1:07:17
those that may oppose us. Let's always uphold justice and
1:07:21
mercy. Let's always uphold love.
1:07:24
The readings this morning at Mass, I was so moved because you
1:07:28
know, it's the day after Charlie's murder and the
1:07:31
readings at Mass this morning are from Luke 627 to 38.
1:07:35
Jesus said to his disciples, to you who here I say, love your
1:07:41
enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse
1:07:45
you, pray for those who mistreat you.
1:07:47
To the person who strikes you on one cheek, offer the other as
1:07:50
well. From the person who takes your
1:07:52
cloak, do not withhold even your tunic.
1:07:54
Give to everyone who asks of you.
1:07:56
And from the one who takes what is yours, do not demand it.
1:07:58
Ask back. Do to others as you would have
1:08:01
them do to you. For if you love those who love
1:08:04
you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love
1:08:08
them. And if you do good to those who
1:08:10
do good to you, what credit is that to you?
1:08:12
Even sinners do the same. If you lend money to those from
1:08:16
whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you?
1:08:19
Even sinners lend to sinners and get back the same amount, but
1:08:22
rather love your enemies and do good to them, and lend expecting
1:08:26
nothing back. Then your reward will be great,
1:08:29
and you will be children of the Most High.
1:08:30
For He himself is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked be
1:08:34
merciful, just as also your Father is merciful.
1:08:37
Stop judging and you will not be judged.
1:08:40
Stop condemning and you will not be condemned.
1:08:42
Forgive and you will be forgiven.
1:08:44
Give and gifts will be given to you.
1:08:46
A good measure packed together, shaken down and overflowing, and
1:08:50
will be poured into your lap, for the measure with which you
1:08:53
measure will in turn be measured out to you.
1:08:57
Do everything with love and never, never stop speaking the
1:09:01
truth and fighting for what is good, for what is true, for what
1:09:05
is beautiful.